The Dosadi Suite - Coda I: Raid!
by OrionXIII
Summary: The story of the Dosadi raid on Romulus, re-written slightly with some additional material so it is now an addendum to Tales From The Dosadi Imperium (Fugue, Triad, Fulcrum). The story is told by Colonel Jons about 10 years after the end of Fulcrum. (very minor edits and added Story Notes as a guide to the whole book)
1. Story Notes

The Dosadi Suite

Story Notes

This is actually a full book, broken into 5 cycles and 3 codas. The story is being told by a reporter – if you want to read things in order here's your table of contents:

Cycle 1 - Fugue

Prologue – Sets the stage.

The story of how a young human Star Fleet engineer meets and falls in love with a Dosadi Imperial Marine. Crosses the events of Coda 2, and 3. Minor appearance by Nurse Chapel.

Cycle 2 – Triad

Continues the story of Wilkes and Sooth, their struggles to have a child while dealing with the espionage intrigues of a Hydran Colonel. Minor appearances by CPT Kirk and CDR Spock.

Cycle 3 – Pivot

Continues the story of Wilkes and Sooth as they become involved in stopping a bio-weapon from being released on Earth under a flag of truce.

Coda 1 – Raid on Romulus

Details the events of the Dosadi raid that destroyed the Romulon capitol city.

Coda 2 – Free For All At Toulagai

Details the events of the first battle where Wilkes, Sooth and COL Jons first met – though on opposite sides.

Coda 3 – The Long Night

Details the events of the Dosadi assault on a Gorn battlestation to recover a defector.

Cycle 4 – Minuet

Tells the story Wilkes' and Sooth's daughter Heather's time at Starfleet Academy while she learns to be a Federation fighter pilot and a details a series of Cardassian atrocities.

Cycle 5 – Finale

Tells the story of Wilkes' and Sooth's son Corin, a Dosadi Special Forces Soldier and his rescue of a young Dosadi child after the Cardassians capture a critical Dosadi planet – and the Dosadi's attempt to retake the planet.

Epilogue – Wraps it all up for you.

End Notes & Acknowledgments – copyright and title information for song lyrics and thanks to the folks who've provided help and suggestions!

I would VERY much like any comments, suggestions, or reviews you would care to offer – positive or negative, even if it's just 'This didn't hook my interest'. Thank you for taking the time to read it!


	2. Chapter 1

_**CODA I**_

_**RAID! - The Razing of Romulus**_

_**CHAPTER 1**_

"_No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first contact with the main hostile force."_

_- Field Marshall Helmuth Carl Bernard Graf von Moltke – Earth (Human)_

T'ELESH, DOSAD

OCTOBER 2280

Commander Thomas Wilkes looked around the roundhouse that he and Sooth still shared on Dosad. The suppertime chatter among their friends made a pleasant background noise to his musings. He realized that he had somehow managed to find his way in the universe, despite his reservations from so long ago. He had a wife, four children, and more friends than he had ever thought possible – many of whom were here, sharing a meal and their company.

Angie - he corrected himself: _Captain_ Stone was here; Her starship, the _USS Potemkin_ was in orbit overhead and she had made it a point to look him up. He had always thought she would make Captain by 30, and she had almost made it, earning command of the heavy cruiser slightly before her 32nd birthday.

His friend, business partner, and fellow spy, Colonel Jons was there with his wife. He grinned at the thought that he was a spy. He really wasn't as he made very sure to stay away from anything even remotely resembling espionage, but it was fun to tease the Colonel. He knew that a half-dozen different intelligence services used his business with Jons to pass information back and forth and that he was constantly being monitored, but he stubbornly refused to take part in any sort of spying at all.

Continuing his mental inventory, he looked past Corin and Eletha and their batch of five kits. Sooth was preoccupied with their own four kits, no doubt looking for Heather who had apparently wandered off – again – with Jons' adopted son Tir and Eletha's daughter Ceena. Tovath had joined them late, and Wilkes had no idea where his mate or _their_ three kits were, but they spent a lot of time with friends as well. He was sure there were more people wandering around the house, but he had lost track. The green Dosadi whiskey may have been a contributing factor, he decided.

He had also never been happier, and that seemed to be an on-going thing. There were so many friends missing though, he thought. Nollos and M'Ralin, T'Laren, Kaileen, and...He tried not to dwell on the numbers of friends who had been killed in 17 years of Fleet duty with both the Dosadi and Starfleet. Sooth saw him looking wistful and gave him a wink and one of her beautiful smiles.

"I'm sorry, Colonel, I was letting my mind wander. What did you just ask me?"

Jons smiled at him. "I said, You've come far, my friend, in the years that we've been encountering each other."

"There were an awful lot of times I didn't think I was going to, Seins." he glanced up as Heather, Tir, and Ceena rejoined the group. "And I surely never thought my future held anything like this."

Jons' wife Marin chimed in, "One never knows where one's duty may take them, Wilkes. But there are always rewards for completing your duty, although they may not seem obvious at the time." Glancing at Ceena and Tir she cleared her throat, "And sometimes Providence provides us with the strangest opportunities to both follow one's duty and strengthen the bonds between friends and partners."

Wilkes caught what she was implying immediately, as did Corin and Eletha, although the two youngsters in question seemed oblivious. Corin took a drink of his whiskey to hide his grin and Eletha tried not to giggle at the thought. Tir was almost two years older than Ceena's 14 and a good foot shorter. He had deep tan skin and nearly white hair which made a neat compliment to Ceena's tan and cream fur.

Eletha asked, "On your world, when do you consider someone to be an adult? On Dosad, it's usually about 16 Earth-standard years, but there are those who go through the ritual testing a little earlier, or later than that."

Marin explained, "For our young men, they begin their career with an apprenticeship or by joining the military anywhere from 15 on up, but never later than 18. Our young women are considered adults when their fathers arrange a match for them. The usual age is 14-18 and almost never older than 20. And of course, negotiations for a match can begin some years earlier."

Corin swallowed backwards and began coughing, trying to get the fiery liquid out of his windpipe.

Wilkes thought that if Corin and Eletha took their children now and fled to one of the rim worlds, they might just get away from Marin, but they had better leave right away. Trying to cover his amusement he commented, "Of course on Dosad, we don't arrange matches like your people do. People find their mates through trial and error, mostly."

Marin smiled at him and said, "Indeed. But one can always encourage the trials and help to minimize the errors, can't they?"

Ten year-old Heather, bored with the topic of conversation decided to chime in. "Jons, you're a famous Warrior, Tell us a story about a battle!"

Captain Stone added her opinion as well, "Yes, Colonel. I've only heard bits and pieces of how you and Wilkes and everyone started running into each other. Wasn't it at that little battle at Toulagai about ten years ago?"

Jons thought a moment, "Well, actually, the seeds for that particular battle were sown two years earlier during the Razing of Romulus." He looked across the group, "Corin, I believe your brother was a combat controller aboard the carrier _Loreth,_was he not?"

"Yes, he was." Corin agreed. "How did you know that?"

Jons grinned, "I'm something of a historian myself. The Dosadi have a reputation as master tacticians, so I make it a point to study your battles in great detail. Shall I start my tale there?"

Captain Stone said, "Sure! I'd like to hear the story. I always knew there was something special about Wilkes, I just didn't know _how_ special" She chuckled, "I never expected to find him married for one thing, much less running a major business. So tell me how this all started!"

Heather said again, "I want to hear about the battle!"

Always his favorite, Jons ruffled her fur and said, "Then I shall tell the story, little one." He paused, thinking a moment and began:

DOSADI-ROMULON BORDER

OCTOBER 2266

Hanging in space, some ten light-years from the Dosadi-Romulon frontier, the assault fleet awaited the command to move into the attack. In the center of the fleet of seven starships was the assault carrier _Loreth_ – named for the Dosadi angel of death. Surrounding her were a patrol of fighters and her escorts.

The light cruiser _Avric_, the heavy destroyer _Dosin_ and two small frigates; The _Eleth_ and _Raseth_. Slightly further out were two brand new ships – the _Coasd_ and the _Eladi_. These were new Aegis anti-seeker corvettes. Fast, maneuverable escort vessels designed specifically for duty on the Romulon front where drones, plasma torpedoes and other seeking weapons were as common as the interstellar dust.

On board the _Loreth_, the carrier's captain was mentally reviewing the events that had brought about this raid. The Dosadi and the Romulons had been feuding for months during the Romulon's brush-war with the Gorn Empire and their Federation allies. It hadn't gone much past the occasional border spat or light raid on an outpost until the very first Dosadi assault carrier, the _Thorin_, came out of the docks.

Barely fifteen light-years out of port, she was attacked by a Romulon force that far out-gunned her. During a fifteen minute battle, she was completely destroyed, although she gave a good account of herself causing heavy damage to the invaders as well. This battle had also exposed new Romulon allies to the Dosadi, and spies inside the Empire supplied a name: The Cardassians. humanoids with reptilian features, their cruisers were armed with a wide array of phasers. Analysts within the Dosadi Imperium felt that if the two Cardassian cruisers had not been present, the ship would have been able to fight her way out of the ambush.

Three days later, the Dosadi struck back. The Romulons were posting a brand new X-class heavy cruiser to their shared frontier. One of only four that the Romulon's possessed, it was a prime target for retaliation so the Romulon's had supplied a destroyer to escort her. It hadn't helped. Attacked by the heavy destroyer _Dosin_ and two frigates, the _Ceasar_ and her destroyer escort were completely destroyed within ten minutes and the Dosadi vessels escaped with only minor damage.

Since tit-for-tat Romulon retaliation was expected, the Dosadi High Command had decided on a bold strike to knock the Romulons so hard that they would have to sue for peace. Even now, a large force of thirty ships was engaged in a running battle with the entire Romulon Home Defense Fleet, drawing it further and further away from Romulus while saboteurs were disabling the Romulon Starbase protecting her Senate and military High Command. With its power, weapons, and shields useless, a quick strike by the raiders would cripple the Romulon Empire - especially its military - for years.

Finished with his mental review, Captain Norin surveyed the bridge of the _Loreth_. In the center of the tight hexagonal compartment everything was in perfect order. To his left, Loric, his communications officer was straining to pick up the signals coming from the diversionary attack. They were kept weak to avoid gaining attention from the Romulon battle stations and listening posts on the frontier. Loric's tail was lashing back and forth, a sure sign that he was totally focused on the faint sounds he was working so hard to tune in. Norin let him work – he would speak up when something came in.

"Captain!", he said, turning around. "The signal has arrived. Proceed immediately across the frontier and on to Romulus."

Norin smiled, displaying an impressive set of fangs. "Excellent. Signal all vessels. Rig for silent running. All ahead ¼ until we're out of range of their listening posts. Then best speed to the assembly point following plan course Seven."

Slowly, and with extreme caution, the fleet began to cross the border. This area of space was studded with mines, Romulon battle stations, listening posts, and patrol vessels on-guard against just such a move. A diversionary attack by the _Loreth's_ squadron of Federation-designed A-10 _Thunderbolt_ attack fighters – small short-range ships designed for speed, agility, toughness and the ability to deal immense amounts of damage at very close range – should have distracted this sector's defense center long enough for the fleet to cross the area. The fighters would need great skill to make it to the assembly point as they were operating at their extreme range limit.

Even with all their care, halfway across the border, the light cruiser _Avric_ struck a mine. While the damage was only superficial, the detonation might alert the Romulons to the fleet's presence. With luck, it would be assumed to be just another fighter.

But, their luck held. Twenty minutes later, the fleet was out of the danger zone and beyond the effective range of the border forces. Shortly after that, they met up with the six A-10's waiting near their pick-up point. All were out of fuel and drifting, damaged, but repairable in short order. Aboard the _Loreth_, mechanics swarmed over their hulls.

The plan was to follow a complex route designed to avoid Romulon traffic, so the fleet slowly built speed up to Warp five. Even that was a strain on the little corvettes, designed for close defense of a fleet and agility, not a long high-speed run. 30 hours later, they reached their assembly point and began preparing in earnest for the attack. Weapons were charged, systems checked, fighters fueled, loaded, and their pilots ready in the cockpits. Maintenance crews anxiously checked internal systems and weapons mounts for any flaw as they were moved into their launchers.

Long range sensors were able to detect no ships in the space around the Romulon's home planet. The plan appeared to be functioning perfectly – had the starbase not been disabled, it's long range sensors would already have sounded the alarm and weapons would already be tracking on the raiders. The order was given and the fleet leaped to flank speed and assumed attack positions, ready to bombard the planet. As the range dropped and sensor power increased, a terrible reality was disclosed.


	3. Chapter 2

_**CHAPTER 2**_

"_A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week."_

_-General George S Patton Jr - Earth (Human)_

Waiting, in a very close orbit around the planet were seven ships of the Romulon Starfleet and the same two Cardassian cruisers that had attacked the _Thorin_. The raiders would have to eliminate these ships before they could move in to bombard the planet. Seven Dosadi raiders against nine Romulon and Cardassian defenders. And they would have to be fast, before the Romulon repair crews were able to bring the starbase back online.

Captain Norin assessed the ships facing him and calmly issued his attack orders. "Launch Green Wing's F-14 _Tomcats_ and have them hold station around us as a close-in defense. Launch the Countach missiles at 300,000 kilometers." These were fast, powerful anti-ship missiles designed to cause massive internal damage to any vessel they struck. "Prepare to turn to 030 mark 015 on my order."

The defending vessels were making their initial moves as well. They split into two forces with the heavier force splitting 'north'. In it were the X-class heavy cruiser _Pompey_ and two of the Romulon's finest light cruisers – the _Rubicon_ and the _Tiber_. Well known to the Dosadi as experienced, vicious and effective ships. Escorting them were two fast destroyers, _Legion_ and _Centurion_. Worse news yet for the Dosadi, two of the Romulon's brand new anti-missile destroyers, the _Preatoria_ and the _Augustus_. It would be unlikely for any Dosadi drones to find their marks this day.

Sethos, the combat controller aboard the _Loreth_ (Corin's brother, Jons explained) spoke, "Captain, range is now 80,000 km. The Cardassian-based force has executed a high-energy turn and launched eight fighters. They will intercept our current course in two minutes."

"Launch the remaining fighters. Have Red Wing's _Thunderbolts_ stand to the rear but close enough to attack when an opportunity presents itself. Have the SWACS (a special shuttlecraft designed to aid communications, tracking, and control of a battle) make best speed away from the battle space on course 135 mark 255 but stay within control range. Blue Wing's _Phantoms_ will fly escort in conjunction with the two F-4's from the _Dosin_. White Wing's _Hornets_ and Green Wing will launch a 75% drone spread at 40,000 km and move to attack the cruiser force. Turn control of the Gatling phasers and the anti-drone-drones over to the Aegis system. Let's see if it's worth what we paid the Federation for it."

"Aye, sir"

Anxious seconds passed for both fleets as tightly packed formations bloomed into complex patterns and sensors began playing across space. Ranges dropped as ships feinted slightly or simulated weapons releases to try to force an early response. Neither side was making any mistakes – these were some of the most skilled and professional warriors in known space.

Norin watched the large, solid holograph in front of his command station, watching the little sparks of light with ghostly vector arrows crawling towards each other. "On my mark, have the _Avric_, the _Eleth_ and the _Raseth_ make a feint to the left and then proceed to attack the starbase. If they can, avoid becoming entangled with the defenders. As soon as they launch, release the fighters to attack."

Within seconds, the Dosadi's compact formation bloomed across space at high speed with the frigates and the light cruiser peeling off to the left. The carrier and her corvette escorts arced to the right while the destroyer _Dosin_ increased speed and began dumping reinforcing energy into her forward shields.

Instantly, the Romulon cruisers belched out seven plasma torpedoes. Ugly red balls of high-energy plasma bound into a seeking weapon, the torpedoes were capable of crippling a ship with a single hit. And they were exceedingly long-ranged – although they 'bled' out energy the further they flew, weakening. Unfortunately for the Dosadi captains, they couldn't afford the time to try to out-run them Instead, they had to close the distance. On board every ship, defense officers scrambled to find something with which to evade, deceive, or destroy these devastating weapons.

Aboard the little frigate _Raseth_, racing along on the _Avric's_ starboard side, there was no chance to do much of anything.

Shortly before the Romulons fired, her navigator informed his captain "Sir, the cruiser force has turned to intercept our course, 180 mark 315..." He was interrupted by the defense officer's near scream,

"Weapons lock from..." He never finished the sentence. The heavy phaser-1s, disruptors and a sprinkling of lighter phasers bracketed the tiny ship even as her helmsman tried to force the shuddering little ship into an evasive descending spiral as her shields folded one after another and explosions rocked her from bow to stern. While not crippled, she was beyond any effective action for a bit. The Romulons had drawn first blood.

Aboard the light cruiser _Avric_, a similar situation was developing. The cruiser, however, was quite a bit more capable of dealing with the weapons targeted on her. Her forward shield was badly battered despite the extra energy reinforcing it, but it was holding. Unfortunately, five of the seven deadly plasma torpedoes were tracking on his ship. The luckless _Raseth_ had drawn the other two.

The _Raseth's_ captain tried desperately to save his ship. "Execute a high-energy turn!" This was a panic maneuver which caused the ship to trade all forward energy into a spinning, skidding turn that dumped excess energy into the shields as reinforcement – it also left the ship nearly dead in space. "Launch the Wild Weasel!'

The smoking little ship shook under impossible stresses as she first spun 120 degrees to try to present an intact shield to the rapidly closing plasma globes, and then all her remaining energy was transferred into her shields. The giant doors in her side slid open and a shuttlecraft – the Wild Weasel – crammed with electronic gear to attract the torpedoes, began its slow run away from the ship.

It didn't get very far. About seven seconds after launch, two Type F torpedoes slammed into it, vaporizing it very thoroughly. While less damaging than the horrific Type R torpedo, the detonations were still powerful enough to cut the _Raseth's_ number three shield in half and shake the ship like a terrier with a rat.

While considerably less critical, the situation on board the _Avric_ was similar. Her defense officer calmly issued his orders "Fire forward and pod phasers at torpedo of choice – just make sure you aren't killing the same one. Request supporting fires from the _Coasd_ and _Eladi_."

"_Eladi's_ out of range, sir, _Cosad_ responding." Seconds later, phaser energy from the anti-seeker corvette Cosad raged across the oncoming torpedoes, aided by the squadron of F-18's flying CID (close-in defense or 'sid') and the _Avric's_ own fire. Only one of the torpedoes survived to hit the vessel and the ugly red energy swarmed over her shields swamping the reinforcement and doing light damage to all six shields.

The Romulons were having problems of their own. Dozens of anti-ship missiles from the _Loreth_ and her fighters were swarming into their fleet. Unfortunately for the Dosadi, the Romulon anti-missile destroyers were doing exactly what they were designed for. Only a fraction of the missiles closed with their targets, and those were dealt with by their point-defense phasers.

The Dosadi began firing disruptors, overloaded phasers, and photon torpedoes – their heavy weapon of choice; a deadly, fast weapon supplied by the Federation. Much lighter than the plasma torpedoes of the Romulon's, but much faster to reload and impossible to dodge or intercept. The _Loreth_ added a surprise weapon of her own – a pair of Hellbore torpedoes. Modifications of the photon torpedo, these weapons would englobe a target vessel and then collapse onto the weakest shield whether it was facing the firing ship or not; As the X-class cruiser _Pompey_ found out. Her number two shield, protecting her right front sextant, collapsed under the pounding of the incoming Dosadi fire.

That was all the opportunity the Dosadi needed. Fighters, the frigates, and the heavy destroyer _Dosin_ began pumping devastating fire into the _Pompey's_ unprotected hull. Despite the best efforts of her crew to turn the giant cruiser away, in seconds the proud ship was a smoldering wreck. She could move, but had little left in the way of weapons or power. Casualties were heavy throughout the ship as she vented atmosphere and energy into space, fires racing across her hull.

Norin was trying to keep track of what the Romulon fleet still had to hit back with. "Combat, analysis of that volley. Any torpedo launchers hit?"

Sethos looked up from his screens, "Hard to say, Captain.; Looks like we crippled the _Pompey's_ phasers and most of their disruptors. I don't see any damage to any torpdeo launchers on any vessel though. I think they're all still working."

"Shit. Make those a primary target for anyone taking shots at the cruiser."

Raled, the fleet defense officer interrupted, "Sir, the Romulon fighters have just launched four more Type-F torpedoes, their destroyers have launched two additional Type F's. All are targeted on the _Dosin_. The Cardassian force is closing rapidly on the _Avric_ and the _Eleth_. _Raseth's_ out of it."

"So much for evading and going straight in to the attack." Norin sighed. "Have our fighters launch their Lynx missiles at the Romulon and Cardassian fighters." These were high-speed lighweight drones designed to destroy enemy fighters. You could fire them at ships – in fact to enemy sensors they looked identical to the heavier Countach missiles – but they did very little damage to something as large as a starship. "After launch, recover and re-arm as fast as we can. Continue rapid firing of our own missiles at targets of opportunity."

The captain of the _Dosin_ wasn't worried in the slightest. Her captain was in a very overconfident mood. The initial exchange had cost the Dosadi a badly damaged frigate. In return, they had nearly destroyed the heaviest vessel the Romulon's had present. This was the second X-Class cruiser kill the _Dosin _had to her credit. The heavy destroyer pivoted gracefully on one 'wing tip' (in reality a weapons pod), and plowed directly over the two torpedoes, conserving her weapons for offense. Most of her number six shield, protecting her left front sextant, folded under.

The captain of the frigate _Eleth_ was a little more aware of the gravity of the situation. Watching the tracks in the holographic display, he spoke to his combat controller, "Sameeth, where exactly are the rest of those targeted?"

"Working...Uh, three on the _Avric_, and uh, two for us. The Cardassians are locking weapons on our number six shield, and the two light cruisers have locked onto our number two shield."

"Oh shit. Fire all weapons at the _Rubicon_. Helm, emergency stop! Shuttle bay – launch the wild weasel NOW!" Crewmen all throughout the frigate raced to their duties as the ship literally slammed on the brakes, trading all her momentum for shield reinforcement; delicate lines of lethal energy tracing from emitters on her weapons pods into the growing bulk of the Romulon cruiser bearing down on her.

The bridge of the mighty _Avric_ was a much calmer place. She detected the three inbound Type-F plasma torpedoes and the enemy disruptors locked onto her number two shield and began to deal with them in turn. Her captain issued his orders: "Helm, hard left, Emergency stop. Shuttle bay – launch Wild Weasel number one immediately."

Again, the tiny shuttles made a desperate dash for distance, drawing the seeking weapons to their electronic bait, and again, didn't get far. The _Avric_ wasn't bothered in the slightest, but her escort the _Eleth_ wasn't quite so fortunate.

The tiny ship trembled under the close explosions of the torpedoes, her hull groaning in protest. Crewmen looked up from their stations at the eerie sounds. Then the weapons ports on the Romulon light cruiser erupted into life and the frigate's number 2 shield went down and long rents appeared in her hull as the enemy weapons struck home.


	4. Chapter 3

_**CHAPTER 3**_

"_Another such victory over the Romans, and we are undone." _

_- Plutarch – Earth (Human)_

"I think we survived it." her captain said as the damage reports began to stream into the ruined bridge. But seconds later, the Cardassians gave the lie to that statement as he watched a golden nimbus surround the two cruisers. A fraction of a second later, six phasers ripped through what was left of his number six shield. Crewmen tried in vain to route energy to shields, to brace damaged hull plates – but the entire time, phasers were cutting chunks off the ship while the few systems left were being blown into non-existence. The _Eleth_ imploded, taking her crew of 300 with her. An angry red flower began expanding out of where a graceful and deadly starship had been moments before.

The crippled _Raseth_, caught unawares by the explosion of her sister ship, had her number four shield destroyed and even the _Avric's_ number five shield showed a constellation of red warning lights.

The ranges between the fleets continued to drop. Neither commander was giving an inch in a lethal game of chicken involving trillions of credits worth of starships and thousands of crewmen. In the next 60 seconds of combat, all hell broke loose. A battle like this had never been recorded in the history of known-space. Maneuver, tactics, deception – all went out the window as ships closed to within knife-fighting range.

The Dosadi carrier force turned to intercept what was left of the Romulon cruiser strike force while the _Loreth's_ deck crews worked frantically to refuel and rearm at least some of the fighters. Across every ship in both fleets damage control teams raced to repair what they could and bring shields and especially weapons back to full power. Medical teams were overwhelmed with casualties. Ships raced towards each other in a macabre tango, joined by the flashing lights of beam weapons, torpedoes, and the actinic glare of missile engines. Deep within each ship, dim screens in darkened compartments showed glowing dots, vectors, and expected courses as exhausted, overwhelmed officers struggled to manage the ships, dozens of fighters, hundreds of seeking weapons, and thousands of direct-fire systems comprising the battle.

Aboard the _Loreth_, Sethos shouted "Captain! They're launching a full strike. I read sixteen plasma torpedoes, a full spread of phasers, drones and disruptors – 75% on the _Dosin_, 20% on us, 5% on the _Cosad_."

Receiving the same information from his combat controller, the captain of the _Dosin_ was a little less overconfident than he had been a scant two minutes ago. Seeing enough firepower to annihilate any three cruisers being focused on his ship probably had something to do with that change in attitude. "Helm, hard about. Execute a high-energy turn. Do we have a wild weasel prepared?"

"No sir."

"How many torpedoes are targeted on us again? Verify!"

"Nine sir." came the weak reply.

"Fire all weapons at the cruiser _Tiber_ and abandon ship."

Just then, the captain of the _Avric_ sprang his surprise on the Romulons. Out of concealed tube on the bow of his ship, five Type-F plasma torpedoes leapt towards the enemy fleet. This was the first time the Dosadi had _ever_ used plasma torpedoes and ironically, the Romulon's weren't prepared to deal with these weapons at this time.

The _Loreth_ scrambled all of her fighters – ready or not – in a furious attempt to get the highly explosive craft off of her decks. They were just getting clear of the bays when the two fleets unloaded everything they had on one another at point-blank range.

No one was ever completely sure what exactly was exchanged between the two groups of warships. Surviving sensor records were limited and damaged and eyewitness reports were unbelievable. What was clear was that the _Dosin_ exploded immediately causing a sympathetic rippling detonation of 20 drones – both Dosadi and Romulon. The wave of energy from these explosions washed across the cruiser _Rubicon_, already crippled by Dosadi fire, and caused her to break in two and explode, adding to the shockwave of lethal energies. Her escorts, the _Praetoria_ and _Augustus_, trying to provide covering fire against the incoming missiles had nothing left to absorb this wash of death from an unexpected quarter; Both imploded in a silent flash of light and flame. On the other side of the _Dosin_, the _Loreth_, her shields in tatters from close engagement with the Romulons, crumpled into another silent and ugly explosion adding more megatons of energy to the growing fireball.

The battered _Pompey_, struggling to get her sensors on-line and trying to raise power for shields never even knew what hit her. The expanding wave smashed through her unprotected warp drive releasing all her anti-matter into one gigantic and uncontrolled explosion as the warheads on all her weapons let loose at once. The _Tiber_, trying to protect the _Pompey_ was much too close to escape. The _Dosin's_ last volley had crushed her forward shield, leaving her hull completely exposed to the multi-megaton explosion from the _Pompey_ and she imploded as well, taking the destroyer _Legion_ with her.

The Dosadi had no time to gloat. Surviving captains could see the on-rushing shock-wave of energy – more than had ever been recorded outside of a super-nova – but had very little time to do anything about it. Ships twisted at impossible angles, hulls groaning as engines strained to do more than they were ever designed to do. The little corvettes, despite being nearly undamaged were never designed to deal with energy levels like this. Flying close by the _Loreth_, the shock-wave washed across both vessels and all six shields failed. The bows of the ships were driven backwards until, mercifully quickly, they too imploded into into ugly blossoms of destruction. The tiny fighters, who's main defense was speed and agility, had no hope whatsoever. Their pilots, unlike officers within starships who saw only sensor images of what was occurring outside their ships, could see what was coming with their own eyes. As the fireball spread through their formations, nothing was left but a spray of subatomic particles. Only a single A-10 pilot had managed to run fast enough to hide in the blast-shadow created by two of his squadron mates. Burned and with several broken ribs, he struggled to fly his smoking, crippled fighter towards the SWACS and both began to limp away from the battle space.

Nominally, the Dosadi came out ahead in this brutal exchange, trading five ships for six. Still surviving were the crippled frigate _Raseth_ and the light cruiser _Avric_. Her formerly pristine blue-grey hull now scorched and pitted, she was down to two fully functional shields. Closing with them were the two Cardassian cruisers, the _Kree-Lar_ and the _Pama_. Flying lead for them was the Romulon destroyer _Centurion_.

Again, the two groups of ships began a twisting and sinuous ballet as they maneuvered to bring the most weapons to bear against the enemy's weakest defenses. The _Avric_ was shutting down any unneeded systems and pumping energy into her plasma torpedo launcher. Even before the two forces reached an optimal firing point, her captain fired the seeking weapon at the advancing Cardassians and accelerated to close the gap behind the torpedo. Unable to ignore the dangerous plasma weapon, the Cardassians had to expend a considerable portion of their available firepower to shoot it down.

Blue Wing, the _Loreth's_ only surviving fighter group had been flying in an outer escort position and had been able to escape the deadly conflagration. Seeing the Cardassians using their point-defense systems to deal with the torpedoes, the obsolete F-4 _Phantoms_ surged into the attack. The captain of the _Centurion_, though now unable to be covered by the Cardassian's close-in weapons decided to take on this 'easy prey.' She was badly mistaken. All five F-4's released a cloud of Lynx and Countach missiles. While the Lynx anti-fighter missiles really couldn't do all that much to the destroyer, her frantic sensor officers had no time to try to determine which was which.

The tiny fighters, twisting and rolling around the defensive phaser fire, dove on the big Romulon destroyer, following the missiles. The _Centurion_ attempted to take out the missiles and the _Pama_ tried to assist, but it wasn't enough. The _Centurion's_ captain, confident in her anti-drone systems re-directed some of her phasers at the annoying little fighters. They were difficult targets to hit, and even more difficult to destroy. As ten of the drones began to close with her ship, leaking through her defenses and the _Phantoms_ released yet more of the powerful missiles she came to the sudden realization that she was going to die.

Despite the best efforts of the Romulons, four of the Countach anti-ship missiles and eight of the little Lynx missiles impacted on the _Centurion_. Two even managed to hit the distracted _Pama_, though they did no real damage. The _Centurion_, her shields destroyed and her weapons expended or destroyed was a sitting duck. The F-4's dove to point-blank range and cut her to pieces. She went from being a fully armed and able destroyer to a smoking, out of control hulk, burning and drifting as she spun off-axis. Blind, disarmed, and nearly powerless the ship was essentially destroyed. Refusing to give up, her badly wounded first officer attempted to fly the ship from Auxiliary Control, still trying to defend his home planet.

The _Centurion_ began a wobbling, smoking turn towards the crippled frigate _Raseth_. The _Phantoms_ however, weren't done with her. They flew their fighters directly towards picked targets and obliterated everything that was still functioning. While the _Centurion_ didn't explode, what was left wasn't recognizable as a warship. Instead, it was a wreck, belching atmosphere and energy in long tongues of fire through gaping rents in her hull. Energy sparked and arced across what remained of her warp engines providing the only light from the drifting, spinning hulk.

While Blue Wing was finishing off the _Centurion_, the valiant little _Raseth_ made her last stand. Sweeping left as fast as her mangled warp drives could push her, she attacked the cruiser _Kree-Lar_. The enemy warship was many times her size and power even had she been undamaged. Holding his broken left arm, his tail a bloody stump, and sitting in the smoking ruins of his bridge, her captain held his fire until they were nearly on top of the Cardassian ship. He issued his final orders to what was left of his bridge crew. "Wait until they're about to fire, and then let loose. It's time to meet the gods!" He had been carefully hoarding his power, dumping everything he could spare into his weapons systems. Two of the powerful photon torpedoes were on the verge of exploding in their tubes and all three of his remaining phasers were going to melt down if they weren't fired soon.

A chime sounded from the combat controller's station, the little frigate shivered and the sound of firing weapons rang throughout the ship. One of the torpedoes mis-fired and had to be ejected, exploding near the port bow. The remaining weapons tracked straight and true and crushed the forward shield of the _Kree-Lar_, swamping through to scatter damage across the battle cruiser's bow.

The _Avric_ fired a moment later, unloading all of her powerful forward batteries into the _Pama_. Already damaged, she was unable to deflect the energy pouring into her and reeled under the pounding. Her crew raced to fix what they could.

The _Kree-Lar's_ return volley obliterated the _Raseth's_ bridge and most of the remaining systems as well. As her warp drives began to go super-critical, her Chief Engineer tried to juggle the collapsing energy fields to direct the hulk into the Cardassian cruiser and prepared to ram as what was left of her crew attempted to abandon ship.

Four of the sleek Cardassian fighters had managed to destroy the five exhausted, battered fighters of Blue Wing and rolled in to hound what was left of the _Raseth_. They were still on their attack run when the frigate exploded. The detonation also annihilated the _Kree-Lar's_ number five shield and caused more damage to her control and weapons systems while the poor _Pama_, caught with her failed number three shield facing the explosion was reduced to a burning, nearly out of control cripple.

The _Pama's_ captain, being informed by his Science Officer (she was a legend among the Cardassian fleet) that his ship was no longer able to provide effective resistance turned what was left of his cruiser and began to limp towards safer space. Damn the Romulon's and their starbase!

The _Kree-Lar_ could not, in honor do this. The ship still had weapons and power and was now the only thing between the Romulon home-world and the _Avric_. Her captain made his plans. "Loh Ril, make a high-energy turn and target all remaining weapons on the enemy cruiser. Anyone who fires without my explicit order will be killed instantly. All remaining power to reinforce the number one shield. Open a channel to that cruiser."

As the image of the Dosadi commander appeared on his cracked and partially melted viewscreen, he took the measure of his opponent. It didn't give him a lot of confidence that this would work. "Ah, Commander. I am Gul Hib Ran of the Cardassian Union. The Romulon starbase is now coming back on-line and as I'm sure you know, all of our weapons are fully charged and targeted on your vessel. We are also preparing to fire two of the weapons you call Type-R torpedoes. This will damage both our vessels unnecessarily.

"You have fought an excellent battle. A battle you can call a victory. If you turn now, and head for your home space, we will not fire at you. Why risk death when victory is within your grasp?"

The captain of the _Avric_ turned to his combat controller and his medical officer, Dr. Sitnam. "Any ideas?"

Lieutenant Commander Fir, the combat controller said "We haven't seen any plasmas from the Cardassians yet and there's no energy signature of any being charged. The starbase shows zero energy and the communications we've monitored show chaos across all levels."

The Doctor nodded, "He's bluffing. He hasn't got anything left or he would've blown us out of space."

Captain Corlick turned back to the viewscreen. "Right. Prepare to die, lizard."

Gul Hib Ran sighed, he hadn't though that would work. "Glinn, prepare to fire."

"Yes, Sir!" The young officer obviously still had faith that his Gul, who had so miraculously gotten them out of every other scrape would do so again. The Gul knew better.

The _Avric_ closed to 20,000 kilometers and the _Kree-Lar_ pivoted on her axis, attempting to present her best shield to the light cruiser bearing down on her. Both ships unloaded. The _Avric_ fired four of the overloaded photon torpedoes, six overloaded disruptors, seven overloaded phaser-1's two anti-ship drones, and a Type-S plasma torpedo (Not as big as a Type-R, but bad enough).

In response to this devastating fusillade, the battered _Kree-Lar_ could only scrape up a phaser-3, and a single overloaded phaser-1. Slicing through the _Avric's_ weakened number two shield, the deadly energy ripped the cruiser's power and control systems. While not critical, the _Avric_ was hurting.

The artificial gravity was off-kilter on the _Kree-Lar_. Gul Hib Ran regained his feet and tried to wave away the smoke. Two drones went careening wildly away as his defensive officer managed to interfere with their tracking. Seeing the plasma torpedo closing with his defenseless ship he knew he had only one option left. If he could board the bridge of the _Avric_ he could take her over.

"Engineering! We need power to the transporters now!"

Through the crackling static of the badly damaged intercom system he heard "Transporters out, Gul – so is maneuvering and warp power."

"Prepare to receive catastrophic damage!" He had just gotten this order out when the Type-S torpedo impacted just forward of the bridge. The _Kree-Lar_ hung in space for a brief instant and then gave up, adding one more explosive gout of light and burning gas to this wreckage littered area of space. The volume around Romulus would be full of debris for months afterwards as the planet's gravity pulled in the detritus of combat.

Captain Corlick had miscalculated – he hadn't expected the _Kree-Lar_ to detonate. Damage from the cruiser's death scattered all over the _Avric's_ hull, damaging everything lightly. But she was still able to fight. And now she had a clear shot at the Romulon home planet. He gave his attack orders, "Close with the starbase. Charge all weapons and prepare to launch bombardment. Charge the plasma torpedo as an enveloping torpedo until I give orders otherwise."

On Romulus, the High Command was in an understandable state of panic. First, an unprecedented Dosadi fleet had waltzed into their space and directly attacked the Home Defense Fleet. Suspecting a trap, the majority of the fleet fought a running battle while a small rear-guard stayed behind, just in case.

Right on cue, thirty five members of the Praetor's Guard Legion had revolted. The starbase's powerful energy generators were disabled, their controls melted chunks of metal. Without power, her shields and weapons were useless. The traitors were finally slain, but repairs would take time – and meanwhile, the base – and the planet - was defenseless.

Then, worse news. A Dosadi assault fleet had dropped out of warp and was closing with their rear-guard. Thank all the gods that the two Cardassian Ambassadorial escorts were still in orbit. The Praetor had issued his one and only order: Stop them at all costs. You are expendable.

Since their scanners were also powerless, they had no real idea of what was happening out there in space. Scanners weren't needed, however, when nearly a dozen starships suddenly explode. That lit up the sky for over an hour afterwards – but was it good news or bad? As scanner power began to come up from emergency sources, the tactical situation became clear. Only five ships remained. Then two. Then one. The _ISS Avric_. They could only watch in impotent rage as the _Avric_ moved into close orbit and began to pound the Romulon home-world back into the Stone Age.

People made desperate dashes for shelters, running past useless heavy weapons and shield generators, trying to find someplace to hide from the multi-megaton weapon impacts. It made no difference where they went. They died. Forty-five minutes later, that entire section of the continent was a smoking ruin and the _Avric_ stood off, launching a few remaining shots from long range. No one had ever seen a starbase explode before, but the damaged generating systems went critical, and then detonated with a force in the gigaton range. Later estimates of casualties were in the hundreds of millions. Millions more would die from the long-term effects of the nuclear-winter like clouds of debris blown into the atmosphere. Although the Romulons, like the Dosadi, are a warrior race where 'civilian' isn't really a recognized concept, it's hard to classify most of these deaths as anything other than civilian by our reckoning. But the Romulons were now leaderless and unable to provide any effective action against the Dosadi.

The _Avric_ made course for home, picking up the SWACS with it's terrified crew and what was left of Lt. Delac's A-10 fighter. A very long trip home followed, trying to make their way past the now quite agitated Romulon defenses. Fortunately, a Dosadi light cruiser, even damaged, is very difficult to destroy. After four days of hiding when they could, fighting when they had to, they made it over the border and back into home space.

The news hadn't yet reached Dosad. All they knew was that their fleet had been badly mauled by the Romulon Home Fleet, making a somewhat less than even exchange. Their only carrier, one of their five light cruisers, a heavy destroyer, two frigates, and two brand new corvettes had simply disappeared. So, when the _Avric's_ battle damaged hull pulled into orbit around Dosad – alone – the Dosadi Military was shocked. They were even more shocked when they received the log and sensor tapes of the battle. While the raid had achieved all of its goals, it had also been cripplingly expensive. Sure, the Romulons were no longer able to bother the Dosadi, and would probably lose the war with the Grand Alliance, but the Dosadi too were pretty much beyond offensive action.

Captain Corlick was promoted to Admiral and stands an excellent chance to succeed the Emperor.

Jons took another drink of his whiskey. I happened to be on Romulus that day. Fortunately for me, I was in Dinalla when Ki Baratan exploded. Even across the ocean, the effects were felt rapidly. It was...horrible."

Corin was silent and Eletha said, "That's more details than I had ever heard about that battle. "

The Colonel said, "I had access to the Romulon sensor archives from their orbital platforms, including intercepts."

Heather, enthralled with the story just said, "Thank you, Jons!" That was echoed by the many guests.

Captain Stone said, "That was quite the story, Colonel. Thank you – but I don't see how that relates to Wilkes, or anyone other than Corin?"

"Well, the Assault Carrier concept was still quite new at that time, Captain. The Dosadi were the first to design and build a specific class to carry massive numbers of fighters. Their doctrine was that the ship be able to fight as a cruiser as well as carry the fighters. This battle exposed a number of flaws in that concept, flaws that were corrected in the next carrier – the _ISS Delos_, which was the ship Wilkes was posted to when it arrived at Toulagai. Where I was also present aboard the Hydran light-cruiser _Succession_. Somewhat ironically, that ship was helmed by a young Starfleet officer, an Ensign Yoshida."

"I've heard of her. She's an instructor at Starfleet Academy now." Angie interrupted him.

"So? I must say I'm not surprised. She is without peer in my experience."

This time it was Ceena who asked for a story. "Colonel, that was the battle where my father was killed. My mother and Corin have both told me the story, can you tell it the way you told that last one?"

Sooth spoke up, "Ceena, he's just told a long story! It's not fair to ask him for another right away!"

"No, no – I'm an old warrior, M'Lady, and we LOVE telling tales of old battles and valor. I'd be happy to share another tale." Nodding to Captain Stone he said, "I've been able to obtain quite a few Federation records on this battle as it has a particular interest for me. I was able to get the entire set of bridge records from the _USS Hood_, thanks to Commander Wilkes' intercession."

It's an odd story of what pride and foolishness can drive otherwise sane beings to. But, let me start aboard the _Hood_...


End file.
